Shirt collars



T. D. AINSLIE March 1, 1966 SHIRT COLLARS Filed Sept. 9, 1964 I NVENTOR. THOMAS DOW AINSLIE 8 FIG- ERIC Y MUNSON Attorney United States Patent 3,237,207 SHIRT COLLARS Thomas Dow Ainslie, Metuchen, NJ, assignor to Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 9, 1964, Ser. No. 3%,173 Claims. (Cl. 2-132) This invention relates to collars, and more particularly to collars of the kind used on shirts, and one of the objects of the invention is to provide a collar which can be worn with increased comfort due to the inherent elasticity or expansibility which it possesses and especially the elasticity provided in the direction of the encirclement of the neck by the collar.

It is an object of the invention to provide a collar of this kind in which the stitching which units parts of the collar is disposed away from contact with the neck. It is an object of the invention to provide means in the collar by which parts thereof which are often subject to wrinkling and creasing, will be reinforced in a manner to greatly retard the formation of wrinkles and creases while not interfering with the elasticity of the body of the collar.

It is an object of the invention to provide a collar composed of elastic material providing for expansibility of the collar, and to provide shape-maintaining means by which the collar will be caused to always present a neat appearance.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in view, I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a portion of a shirt, showing the improved collar attached thereto;

FIG. 2 is a face view of the inside face of the collar before its attachment to a shirt;

FIG. 3 is a view of the outer or exposed face of the collar;

FIG. 4 is a view of an end portion of the collar with one of its .facings or plies broken away to disclose one of the reinforcing pieces;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view, taken substantially on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows, and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view, taken substantially on the line 66 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

The collar as disclosed in the drawing includes a body having a pair of similar facings of plies, that which constitutes the outer or exposed ply when the collar is attached to the body of the shirt 1, being indicated at 2. The inner ply, or that which is concealed from view when the collar is downfolded in its customary position of wear, is that indicated at 3.

These two fabric plies are of woven material which is longitudinally expansible or stretchable as indicated by the arrow 4 in FIG. 3, the said plies having little or no expansibility transversely of the body of the collar. The longitudinal expansibility throughout the two plies or facings 2 and 3 is attained by the stretchable nature inherent in the fabric itself, such as by the use of the fabric known as Spandex, by the use of elastic fabric of similar nature, or by the incorporation of elastic threads in the woven fabric of which the plies 2 and 3 are made.

Whichever material is used, it results in the production of a collar body having a clearly recognizable longitudinal elasticity through its entire area.

Located between the plies 2 and 3 is an interlining 5 which has its lower end confined between inturned portions 6 and 7 of the plies 2 and 3 respectively, and held by the edge stitching shown at 8. Said interlining 5 has an upper section 5:: and the two interlining sections 5 and 5a are joined together by a line of stitching 9 which extends longitudinally of the collar body and terminates short of the forward edges of the collar body as indicated at 12. This line of stitching 9 substantially designates the fold line 13 of the collar and is a division line between the neckband portion 14- of the collar and the downturned outer body portion of the collar. To allow for the stretch in the collar, the stitching which unites the parts thereof, can be composed of an elastic thread.

As will be observed in FIG. 6, the line of stitching 9, in addition to securing together the adjacent edges of the interlining sections 5 and 5a, also fastens these lining sections to the rear ply 3 of the collar by passing through said rear ply. The line of stitching 9 passes only through the rear ply 3 and does not extend through the exposed ply 2 so that such exposed ply, which includes the inner face of the neckband 14, is free from all stitching except the edge stitching 8 which extends along the lower edge of the collar and along the forward edges 10 and 11.

Adjacent to the opposite ends of the collar and situated in the areas thereof which include the tips or terminals 15 of the collar, are reinforcing inserts or panels 16. Each of these inserts or panels may be composed of an expansible or elastic fabric similar to that of which the plies 2 and 3 are composed, or the inserts may be composed of a relatively inelastic material, yet one which obtains a certain degree of elasticity by having its threads disposed on the bias as indicated in FIG. 4. The elasticity in these inserts, obtained either by the elastic characteristics of the fabric of which they are made, or by the bias disposition of the threads of the weave, permits them to stretch along with the plies 2 and 3 and the similarly stretchable interlining.

The reinforcing inserts 16, having their threads disposed on the bias relatively to the longitudinal stretch of the collar, renders the portions of the collar in which these inserts are incorporated, very resistant to folding or creasing during all conditions of wear. The inserts 16 are retained in place between the plies 2 and 3 of the collar by having their lower edges caught by the stitching 8 as shown in FIG. 6. One of the side edges of each of the inserts is also caught by the line of stitching 8a which extends along the forward edge 10 or 11 of the collar. In addition, the line of stitching 9 also passes through the inserts l6 and attaches them to the rear ply 3 only.

In each tip area of the collar is provided diagonal parallel lines of stitching 17 which pass through the inserts 16 and through the rear ply 3 but not through the front ply 2. These lines of stitching 17 form elongated pockets within which are confined the stiffening strips 18.

The collar constructed as above described, is one which, because of its longitudinal stretch, affords very substan tial wearing comfort and avoids the discomfort often caused by the constriction of a tight collar.

When the collar is in its position of wear attached to a shirt as shown in FIG. 1, and is folded substantially along the line of stitching 9, the stitching 9 and 17 is then located between the downturned part of the collar and the outside face of the neckband so that such stitching is completely concealed from view. The collar is attached to the shirt with setting stitch, and finally with the stitching 20 (FIG. 1) extending along the neckband edge 19 of the collar so that no stitching appears on the inside exposed part of the neckband in the area along the fold line 13. The bias inserts can be made of a material of little stretch if desired, so that these inserts 16 will tend to decrease the elasticity of the collar body in the forward or tip areas of the collar body, with the result that the central portion of the collar, or that located between these reinforcing inserts, will possess greater elasticity than the parts in which the inserts are found. However, as an alternative, these inserts 16 might possess elasticity greater than or similar to that possessed by the plies 2 and 3, if such elasticity is found necessary or desirable.

The use of the inserts in the forward parts of the collar, and where wrinkling or creasing generally occurs, and used in co-operation wtih the tip-reinforcing strips 18, is such as to insure neatness in appearance in the collar and which, added to the comfort attained by the longitudinal expansibility of the collar, results in a collar which will be found attractive, useful and satisfactory under all conditions of use.

Having thus described a single embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexed claims.

What I claim is:

1. A collar having an inner and outer plies, the plies being composed of expansible material permitting longitudinal stretch of the collar, an expansible interlining disposed between the plies and edge-stitched thereto, and reinforcing pieces disposed between the plies adjacent to the opposite ends of the collar, said reinforcing pieces being composed of a woven fabric having its threads disposed on the bias in respect to the longitudinal stretch of the plies and interlining, said pieces being thereby stretchable longitudinally of the collar body.

2. A collar as provided for in claim 1, wherein said reinforcing pieces are longitudinally stretchable co-extensively with the stretch of the plies and interlininng.

3. A collar as provided for in claim 1, wherein the reinforcing pieces are located in end portions only of the collar with an unreinforced part of the collar located between them, the latter part of the collar having greater expansibility than the reinforced parts.

4. A collar comprising, a collar body composed of inner and outer plies stitched together at at least some of their edges, said plies being composed of fabric which is stretchable longitudinally of the collar body, a stretchable interlining disposed between the plies and edgestitched thereto, said interlining being composed of a plurality of sections stitched together on a line extending longitudinally of the collar body, said line of stitching passing through the rear ply and indicating a fold line for the collar body, each end portion of the collar body including a woven reinforcing panel located between the plies and edge-stitched thereto, said panels being stretchable longitudinally of the collar body, having their threads arranged on the bias in respect to the length of the collar body, diagonal lines of stitching extending through the rear ply and through the panels, said diagonal lines of stitching forming pockets, and stitfening strips contained in said pockets.

5. A collar as provided for in claim 4, wherein the lines of stitching are composed of elastic threads, and all of said lines of stitching excepting the edge stitching on the collar body are visible only on the face of the inner ply.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 311,184 1/1885 Gallup 2-129 990,957 5/1911 Cooper 2-129 1,766,259 6/1930 Payne 2-131 1,829,939 11/1931 McCreery 2-131 1,851,222 3/1932 Turpan 2-131 2,007,014 7/1935 Greif 2-98 2,025,485 12/1935 Tucker 2-127 2,204,152 6/ 1940 Rubenstein 2-132 2,444,381 6/1948 Sperber- 2-143 2,472,430 6/1949 Logan 2-132 2,604,628 7/1952 Payne 2-116 2,897,509 8/1959 Ainslie 2-132 2,996,723 8/1961 Ainslie 2-127 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A COLLAR HAVING AN INNER AND OUTER PLIES, THE PLIES BEING COMPOSED OF EXPANSIBLE MATERIAL PERMITTING LONGITUDINAL STRETCH OF THE COLLAR, AN EXPANSIBLE INTERLINING DISPOSED BETWEEN THE PLIES AND EDGE-STITCHED THERETO, AND REINFORCING PIECES DISPOSED BETWEEN THE PLIES ADJACENT TO THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE COLLAR, SAID REINFORCING PIECES BEING COMPOSED OF A WOVEN FABRIC HAVING ITS THREADS DISPOSED ON THE BIAS IN RESPECT TO THE LONGITUDINAL STRETCH OF THE PLIES AND INTERLINING, SAID PIECES BEING THEREBY STRETCHABLE LONGITUDINALLY OF THE COLLAR BODY. 